Pirates Maintain Poise To Turn Back N.C. Wesleyan
November 14, 2014 | Men's Basketball
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Sophomore Michel-Ofik Nzege, who sat out last year due to NCAA transfer rules, recorded a double-double in his ECU debut with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Marshall Guilmette, Terry Whisnant and Caleb White scored 14 points each for the Pirates, who led wire-to-wire. East Carolina shot 48.4 percent overall, including a 56.0 clip after halftime.
Eric Dortch-Jones led N.C. Wesleyan with 25 points.
East Carolina held a four-point lead with 14:08 remaining in the opening stanza and used a 31-14 run over the next 12 minutes to take a 44-23 with just over two minutes remaining until intermission. Nzege scored 10 points during the run with all three of his field goals coming inside the paint.
The Pirates relied heavily on its size, scoring 46 points in the paint including its first eight. East Carolina grabbed 12 offensive rebounds in the first half, which led to 12 second chance points as they built a 48-27 halftime lead.
Whisnant pushed the Pirates lead to 27, 56-29, with a thunderous dunk less than four into the second half before NC Wesleyan seized the momentum. The Battling Bishops outscored ECU 31-14 and cut 17 points off the lead in a span of eight minutes. However, three technical fouls against the Battling Bishops in a span of seven seconds turned the tide back in ECU's favor.
The Pirates made 8-of-10 free throws in next 35 seconds to push their lead back out 18 with 7:55 to play. East Carolina outscored its foe 29-9 in the five minutes following the technical fouls as its lead ballooned to 30 with three minutes to play.
The two teams combined to shoot 76 free throws. ECU made 36-of-46 shots from the foul line and N.C. Wesleyan converted 20-of-30 attempts.
East Carolina returns to the court Sunday, Nov. 16, against UNC Asheville. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
